Dangerous Octopuses

Think about a creature with three hearts, eight arms and one huge brain. This creature can also do amazing things. It is an octopus!

Octopuses are extremely intelligent sea animals. They have even learnt a few ways to get themselves out of dangerous situations, for example, when it is afraid of a predator. Octopuses hide themselves in the sand on the ocean floor because octopuses don’t have teeth or sharp claws to protect themselves from other creatures in the sea. They have an interesting way of doing this. The octopus is like a chameleon because it can change the color of its skin to match the sand and this color change happens in less than a minute.

Some octopuses like to stay in more shallow water where there are rocks and coral. Because octopuses are invertebrates, they can squeeze themselves into small spaces between the rocks. In this way, predators cannot reach them. Another way an octopus can hide is by shooting ink. An octopus uses a part of its body called a siphon to shoot ink into the water. The ink forms a cloud that hides the octopus. It’s like a magician doing a vanishing act.

If an octopus is being attacked, it can actually make itself look like a venomous sea snake. It will bury itself in the sand and keep just two arms visible. It will change the color of those arms to look like a sea snake. But what if there’s no time to hide? If an octopus is in trouble, it can break off one of its arms. The arm will then change colors and squirm around the water to distract the predator while the octopus swims away safely. Don’t worry. The arm will grow back. There is one kind of octopus that has venom to use in defense. The blue-ringed octopus is tiny; it could fit in the palm of your hand. Predators might think its size makes it a great snack, but they know to stay away. The blue-ringed octopus is very poisonous and can kill predators much larger than itself, and even people, too.

(Adapted from the ISL Collective website)